Universal AM tickets - question

bgula

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 14, 2004
I've done the price bridging with Disney tickets from airmiles many times, but never with Universal tickets. Airmiles seems to only offer an adult ticket, but I'm interested in getting an AM ticket and using the value of it toward renewing my son's annual pass. I have some questions for those that might have done this:

1) Does Universal allow this like Disney?

2) Will they allow me to use an adult ticket toward a child's AP renewal?

3) Is there any special procedure that might be different than how Disney does it?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
When we went in January they 100% bridged the tickets --- we had 2 adult 2-day park-to-park tickets and knew we only had one day to dedicate to the parks so we downgraded to one day park-to-park tickets and walked away with a $200.00 giftcard! SO Airmiles paid for our entrance, our meals for the entire day and an incredible number of souvenirs we otherwise wouldn't have bought. I'm fairly certain they will let you do what you want to do but to confirm you could shoot them an e-mail thru their contact us button on their web page. They are MUCH better at responding with an answer and will often phone as well to follow-up.

Here's a link to my report about downgrading the tickets
How i downgraded Universal tickets
 
Just so I have this straight, if there are 3 of us going to Universal and I have 4 tickets, I can have the 4th redeemed for cash on a gift card? Is this the policy or just a friendly CM and I'm taking a chance? That would be great news if that is the case. I was saving for Sea World passes, but they seem to have disappeared from the AM website.
 


Just so I have this straight, if there are 3 of us going to Universal and I have 4 tickets, I can have the 4th redeemed for cash on a gift card? Is this the policy or just a friendly CM and I'm taking a chance? That would be great news if that is the case. I was saving for Sea World passes, but they seem to have disappeared from the AM website.

If you have 3 people, I believe only 3 tickets can be redeemed. In Donald My Hero's case, she downgraded each 2-day ticket to one day ticket and got the difference on a UO gift card.
 
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Just so I have this straight, if there are 3 of us going to Universal and I have 4 tickets, I can have the 4th redeemed for cash on a gift card? Is this the policy or just a friendly CM and I'm taking a chance? That would be great news if that is the case. I was saving for Sea World passes, but they seem to have disappeared from the AM website.
The customer service department at Universal could teach Disney more than a lesson or two -- proof of this is to send a question via their Contact Us link on their webpage and they WILL respond with a personalized answer to your question. Both times i contacted them (once to see if the tickets ever expired because we had to postpone our trip and the other to see about downgrading them once we knew we would be going) they not only sent an email with the answer but I also received a phone call confirming the information. SO, i would suggest asking them and see what they have to say.

So i went prepared with copies of my e-mails, names of people i spoke to on the phone in case i needed to refer to them when i tried my luck. Didn't have a problem at all --when they asked to see the credit card i had used to purchase them and i mentioned i had redeemed Airmiles to get them the person at Guest services (what do they call them, there??) didn't even flinch, pulled out a gift card and loaded it with the difference. She also gave us a handful of paper front-of-the-line passes because she thought she was taking too long! Further proof that this isn't a problem for them and NOT just one friendly person was when we finally caught up to our daughter & her wife (didn't want to wait for us at the gate and lose any HP time!) we took them to a Guest Service counter inside the park and downgraded their tickets as well. That machine had a tiny headache so we walked away with the giftcard, another handful of paper passes AND vouchers for free butterbeer :cool1:

NOW, i'm not sure if they will allow you to cash in one ticket completely for cash --- that isn't downgrading, that is a different horse of a different colour!Regarding the Seaworld passes disappearing this could simply be a case of them not being in stock oat Airmiles and once they get them back you will see them show up again.
 
I might send the question off to US saying I have a ticket that won't be used and see if I can redeem it for a GC. If not, I'll keep checking back to see if the Sea World tickets re-appear.

Thanks for the help :rainbow:
 


OK, so here's an update. I contacted US and asked about using the value of an AM ticket toward an AP renewal, and here is the response:

Thank you for contacting Universal Orlando Resort™ Guest Services.

We regret to inform you we would be unable to take the value of a ticket and use it towards the renewal of an annual pass. I apologize any inconvenience this may cause.


So, so much for Universal teaching Disney a thing or two. Maybe I'll have to write them and ask if I can upgrade the AM ticket to a NEW AP. Still should be cheaper than renewing an AP.
 
I am planning to upgrade my 2-day ticket to a seasonal pass. Someone has done that before.
 
Renewal is $328.01. Only a few years ago it was ~$160 (sigh)! Guest services did get back to me and say that yes I can upgrade the ticket to an AP, but couldn't confirm my numbers (of course). What I get is if I go that route, a new AP is $410.01 - $271.57 (2-park ticket) = $138.44. If I'm right, I'll take that over $328 any day! I'm going to CALL though and confirm my numbers before I order an AM ticket. Only thing is we have the old AP tickets with the pictures on them. Hate to have to give them up!
 
The customer service department at Universal could teach Disney more than a lesson or two -- proof of this is to send a question via their Contact Us link on their webpage and they WILL respond with a personalized answer to your question. Both times i contacted them (once to see if the tickets ever expired because we had to postpone our trip and the other to see about downgrading them once we knew we would be going) they not only sent an email with the answer but I also received a phone call confirming the information. SO, i would suggest asking them and see what they have to say.

So i went prepared with copies of my e-mails, names of people i spoke to on the phone in case i needed to refer to them when i tried my luck. Didn't have a problem at all --when they asked to see the credit card i had used to purchase them and i mentioned i had redeemed Airmiles to get them the person at Guest services (what do they call them, there??) didn't even flinch, pulled out a gift card and loaded it with the difference. She also gave us a handful of paper front-of-the-line passes because she thought she was taking too long! Further proof that this isn't a problem for them and NOT just one friendly person was when we finally caught up to our daughter & her wife (didn't want to wait for us at the gate and lose any HP time!) we took them to a Guest Service counter inside the park and downgraded their tickets as well. That machine had a tiny headache so we walked away with the giftcard, another handful of paper passes AND vouchers for free butterbeer :cool1:

NOW, i'm not sure if they will allow you to cash in one ticket completely for cash --- that isn't downgrading, that is a different horse of a different colour!Regarding the Seaworld passes disappearing this could simply be a case of them not being in stock oat Airmiles and once they get them back you will see them show up again.
I agree, Universal has excellent customer service. I was very impressed our last visit.
 
So far, can't say I'm that impressed with the answers I've received, especially the second one. Now I HAVE to call to confirm my numbers as they didn't apparently have access to value of tickets.
 
Called Universal. Talked to 2 different people - Universal does NOT price bridge. Therefore, they have no idea ahead of time what the value of an AM ticket would be. It could scan with a value, or say there's no value to the ticket because it's an AM ticket. There's no way I'm getting an AM ticket without knowing what value it has ahead of time. Disney certainly has US hands down on this side of the equation IMHO. It's too bad because if they would have price-bridged the ticket, I could have gotten an new AP for ~$100 as opposed to renewing my AP for ~$328.
 
Called Universal. Talked to 2 different people - Universal does NOT price bridge. Therefore, they have no idea ahead of time what the value of an AM ticket would be. It could scan with a value, or say there's no value to the ticket because it's an AM ticket. There's no way I'm getting an AM ticket without knowing what value it has ahead of time. Disney certainly has US hands down on this side of the equation IMHO. It's too bad because if they would have price-bridged the ticket, I could have gotten an new AP for ~$100 as opposed to renewing my AP for ~$328.
That is more or less true to what happened to us. They didn't give me the value of what i *paid* for the tickets but they gave us the value of that ticket at the current price. It would have been higher at a different time of year because apparently they have "seasonal" pricing?? Unless things have changed since late January (entirely possible) i tried to search the forum to see what others have to say because i'm pretty sure someone else recently did some exchange with these tickets.
 
Called Universal. Talked to 2 different people - Universal does NOT price bridge. Therefore, they have no idea ahead of time what the value of an AM ticket would be. It could scan with a value, or say there's no value to the ticket because it's an AM ticket. There's no way I'm getting an AM ticket without knowing what value it has ahead of time. Disney certainly has US hands down on this side of the equation IMHO. It's too bad because if they would have price-bridged the ticket, I could have gotten an new AP for ~$100 as opposed to renewing my AP for ~$328.
Hope this thread helps!
https://www.disboards.com/threads/airmiles-for-universal-studios.3568196/
I will be upgrading on August 13. I will report back, hopefully with desired outcomes!! ;)
 
Hope this thread helps!
https://www.disboards.com/threads/airmiles-for-universal-studios.3568196/
I will be upgrading on August 13. I will report back, hopefully with desired outcomes!! ;)

Thanks, I had forgotten about that other thread! Damo says they do bridge as long as you use the ticket first - similar to what you used to have to do with Disney. I may try to do a chat with AM and see if they can give me a value that they pay for those tickets. Unlikely, but worth a shot.

Nope, they don't have that info - at least that's what they said.
 
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When we went in January they 100% bridged the tickets --- we had 2 adult 2-day park-to-park tickets and knew we only had one day to dedicate to the parks so we downgraded to one day park-to-park tickets and walked away with a $200.00 giftcard! SO Airmiles paid for our entrance, our meals for the entire day and an incredible number of souvenirs we otherwise wouldn't have bought. I'm fairly certain they will let you do what you want to do but to confirm you could shoot them an e-mail thru their contact us button on their web page. They are MUCH better at responding with an answer and will often phone as well to follow-up.

Here's a link to my report about downgrading the tickets
How i downgraded Universal tickets
Did you call before hand to confirm you could do this?

Also when you downgraded, would they have let you use the gift card towards the purchase of another ticket, or in park use only? Thank you
 
Did you call before hand to confirm you could do this?

Also when you downgraded, would they have let you use the gift card towards the purchase of another ticket, or in park use only? Thank you
I sent an email and received both a phone call and an email in response. The gift card we received is a standard Universal Gift Card, good everywhere (including the store at the airport!) We had already decided we were going and if the answer had been "no you can't downgrade your tickets" we would have been fine since we treat our Airmiles as "free".We never buy anything we don't need just to collect the miles, we just alter our spending habits and can luckily store a LOT of non-perishables and paper products.

From their website
Can I purchase theme park tickets with a gift card?
Yes, Universal Orlando Resort Gift Cards may be used to purchase theme park tickets at the front gate of both Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure.
 
That is more or less true to what happened to us. They didn't give me the value of what i *paid* for the tickets but they gave us the value of that ticket at the current price. It would have been higher at a different time of year because apparently they have "seasonal" pricing?? Unless things have changed since late January (entirely possible) i tried to search the forum to see what others have to say because i'm pretty sure someone else recently did some exchange with these tickets.
Thanks, I had forgotten about that other thread! Damo says they do bridge as long as you use the ticket first - similar to what you used to have to do with Disney. I may try to do a chat with AM and see if they can give me a value that they pay for those tickets. Unlikely, but worth a shot.

Nope, they don't have that info - at least that's what they said.

They don't give any info about tickets and their value over the phone for some reason. In my experience on the Universal boards, everyone's tickets have been given gate value when applied towards an upgrade. Tickets from UT and other third parties and loyalty groups have all been treated the same. We've had our AM tickets upgraded to APs a few years ago and intend on doing the same again this October.
 

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